


He Ain't Heavy

by Tarlan



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Collection: Fandom Stocking 2015, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-10 23:09:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5604445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick has to carry an unconscious Daryl while the walkers follow relentlessly behind them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Ain't Heavy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tommygirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommygirl/gifts), [gaialux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaialux/gifts).



The song played in Rick's mind as he struggled along the road with Daryl draped over his back and shoulder. It had sounded like so much sentimental hogwash before the world ended, and it was a pack of lies because Daryl was heavier than he looked, except Rick understood now what the guy really meant. Yeah, Daryl was a dead weight on his back but Rick refused to give into the pain and fatigue because Daryl was more than a friend, more than a brother to him, and Rick would carry him until he couldn't take another step, and then he'd drag him until he dropped.

Somehow he had managed to outpace the small herd of twenty or so walkers following behind but only because they were more rotted than most but they would keep coming, closing the distance as fatigue slowed him down to a crawl. He had to find a safe place to hide, or at least some place where they could hold up until Daryl regained consciousness.

Silently he prayed for a small miracle and as he rounded the bend, he saw an abandoned car.

Rick dropped Daryl about ten feet away from it, wanting to give himself some space to move as he approached, not surprised when he found a zombie inside. It pawed the window, and Rick hoped his new-found luck would hold as he took his blade in hand and reached for the door latch. His luck held, and it took only a moment to shove a knife through the walker's skull and drag it from the car. Rick made one last check to make sure there was nothing else hidden under the few belongings piled in the back before heading back to Daryl.

By now the walkers were closing in, leaving him with just enough time to shove Daryl across the back seat and clamber into the front.

Decaying hands smacked against the driver's side window as the less rotted walkers reached him first, attracted to movement and the smell of live meat as Rick prayed for yet one more tiny miracle. Stripping the ignition wires he flicked them, sagging in relief when the engine started, and twisted them together. There was so little gas remaining the car was practically running on fumes but it would be enough to put some distance between him and the walkers, to give him and Daryl a chance.

He'd long ago stopped thinking of walkers as people, uncaring as one fell beneath the cars wheels.

The car made it about two miles up the road before it run out of gas completely and Rick coasted to a halt close to an old service station set back from the road. He checked it out before dragging Daryl out of the car, making sure it was zombie-free by banging on the door frame to bring anything towards him. Once inside he realized someone had been there before and had already cleaned it out of zombies as well as goods. He carried Daryl over several walkers with their heads caved in, and laid him down in the back office, barricading the door behind him after checking there was another way out if the walkers found them.

The silence stretched and he kept watch through a crack in the wire-threaded glass window separating the office from the main part of the store.

The walkers kept going, heading straight past along the road, and once the last was out of sight Rick took a deep, shuddering breath. It was close to nightfall now and Rick knew he couldn't light a fire for light or heat in case it attracted unwanted attention so he pulled Daryl in close against his chest.

When Daryl began to stir an hour later Rick pressed his fingers against Daryl's lips at the soft groan, silencing him. In the darkness of the office he could see the glint of Daryl's eyes when Daryl tilted his head back to look up at him. Years of hiding from walkers kept him silent instinctively, and Rick let him burrow closer into the warmth of his body as they waited out the long night.

By dawn Rick felt stiff and sore from the long walk carrying Daryl, and from the enforced stillness during the night. His bladder wasn't full, having not had a lot to drink over the past day, but he still needed to piss. Daryl snorted softly, understanding his dilemma and sat up slowly. Gingerly he touched his head, hissing quietly when he found the goose-egg bump from where he'd fallen and smacked his head hard on the ground.

"Where are we?"

"Safe. For now," Rick replied because he really didn't have a clue where they were in relation to the town. He guessed there could be some maps left in the store beyond this office but despite the discomfort he was reluctant to move.

Daryl hadn't moved much either, still sitting with his back against Rick's chest. He relaxed, leaning back into Rick even more, and Rick wrapped his arms tighter around him, holding him close.

"I could have died and turned," Daryl whispered harshly.

It was true. He could have at any moment during that long walk or the equally long night that followed but, for the first time, Rick hadn't cared. Something had changed between them over the years. All his earlier preconceptions about life and gender and love had been turned on its head following the end of the world. All of those past prejudices seemed so trivial with the true constant in his life other than Carl and Judith being the man held in his arms. Carl and Judith still needed him... needed BOTH of them, but the thought of going on with out Daryl at his side and watching his back was unthinkable.

"I don't..." he started to say but Daryl must have read something in his eyes because their lips met and his kiss felt like a little piece of heaven in this hell.

Daryl pulled back but Rick could see all the changes in him too, from a redneck loner into a friend and brother.

"Let's go home," Daryl stated softly, though it wasn't a place so much as a ragged group of people including Rick's children; a group who had learned to put aside the past and accept the way of this new, terrible world.

Within his words and eyes was a promise, and as Daryl stood up and held out his hand to him, Rick felt the weight of the past days drop from him because loving Daryl wasn't heavy at all.

END  
 


End file.
